3tb Essential now Unknown and Not Initialized

I've had this 3tb (model #WDBACW0030HBK-01) since August (didn't install the smartware) and it was working fine until last Saturday, It no longer shows up in My Computer. It does show as Unknown and Not Initialized in Computer Management, if I try to Initialize the disk i receive an error message of "The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error."

I've performed many different troubleshooting methods, swapping ports (reinstalling the drive and drivers, usb 3.0 etc.) it usually has the light on the front fast blinking but sometimes it's a slow blink. I've also tried many suggestions in this forum, most partition managers do not see the drive, (Partition Find and Mount shows it as "WD My Book 1140 USB Device" with a size of 0kb and no partitions. It also shows in the safely remove hardware and Devices and Printers and as My Book 1140.

I recently installed Smartware onto my main (not wd) harddrive, if I hover the mouse over the taskbar icon I see "My Book Essential USB HDD, 0% used" but if I go into the Smartware program the drive isn't listed. I have the SES driver installed.

Note the serial number XYZ-, I doubt that's right.Also tried installing Ubuntu and it never found the drive anywhere, drive does show up in my BIOS.Easus Partition Manager doesn't show the drive, neither does Test Disk.HD Scan for Windows shows it as WD My Book 1140 -11 (Firmware 1003, serial 11)

I don't want to lose the data on the disk but I've been unable to find anything that will format the thang, also read that I'm now unable to remove the drive and put it in a new enclosure due to encryption, this hd was a replacement for a failed WD drive.

Re: 3tb Essential now Unknown and Not Initialized

I'll add to this list. hopefully somebody will find a reply. Bought this My Passport in mid December - downloaded information from a dying laptop, which could see the drive. Now trying it on my new machine and I can't get to any of the data. The drive is shown as Type: "unknown" and status "not initialized". However it IS initilized and was format before use. The data was readily readable/writable on the old defunct laptop.

Have wasted a lot of spare time over three weeks trying to get the thing to work. Currently extremely disappointed with WD.

Re: 3tb Essential now Unknown and Not Initialized

Just wanted to reply with a status update, I contacted WD's Technical Support as suggested by the 2nd post.

They suggested that I try to upgrade the firmware on the drive, I tried that but the procedure failed miserably. They also suggested running the data lifeguard software as an Admin on my machine but that also didn't work.

The last suggestion was to just return the drive to them (it's under warranty) but I still haven't done that.

This weak link is the endemic fault within the 2TB/3TB external "book" series... check the numerous postings by Joe_S and fzabkar, as well as hddguru.com for more extensive/detailed information on this problem...